In the 64 years since its establishment, exports from Israel have
grown by some 15,000%. In 1948, Israel exported $6 million worth of
products, but by 2011, that number had jumped to about $90 billion –
a rise of 1,400,000%. The per capita export rate – the amount of
export in terms of population – was at the end of last year 173 times
greater than it was in 1948.

The statistics were released Thursday in honor of Independence Day by
the Israel Export Institute. The Institute said that the raw figures
regarding Israeli exports did not take into account inflation, the
weakening of the dollar, and the tenfold increase in population in
Israel since 1948. Still, taking all that into account, the Institute
said, the per capita export rate was $11,500 in 2011 – a “phenomenal
number” in and of itself, the group said – compared to $7 in 1948.

Exports have risen each year since 1948, except for five of those
years – 1982, at the height of the First Lebanon War; 1988, when
inflation in Israel was out of control; 1991, during the Gulf War;
2001, during the Second Intifada; and 2009, during the worldwide
economic downturn. Since 1949, Israel has signed free trade
agreements with 39 countries; the first was with Hungary, with that
agreement signed January 12, 1949.